Risk of malignancy in Behcet disease: A meta-analysis with systematic review

BACKGROUND: Several studies have reported the association of Behcet disease (BD) with the risk of diverse kinds of cancers. However, its association is controversial. Therefore, we conducted a bioinformatics-analysis to explore any possible association. METHODS: We obtained relevant findings published before October 2018 through literature survey of the PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases. STATA 12.0 software was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: After screening, the meta-analysis comprised 5 studies. We observed a significant positive association between BD and enhanced malignancy risk (pooled relative risk [RR], 1.19; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.09–1.30), especially for hematological cancer (pooled RR, 2.58; 95% CI: 1.61–3.55) and thyroid cancer (pooled RR, 1.25; 95% CI: 1.04–1.47). However, high heterogeneity was also observed in the results (I(2) = 81.3%). Subgroup analysis indicated that female BD patients from Korean population are at highest predisposition to overall malignancy. Besides, publication bias was not observed with our choice of surveys. CONCLUSION: We conclude that patients suffering from BD have an overall increased risk for malignancy. Greater numbers of exhaustive temporal studies are essential for definitive inferences.